


Contract

by Pandora_Imperatrix



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Hyuugacest, Marriage Contracts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-24
Updated: 2016-09-24
Packaged: 2018-08-17 03:01:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8127830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pandora_Imperatrix/pseuds/Pandora_Imperatrix
Summary: He wasn't sure if she really knew with what she was about to commit.





	

Her gaze caressed his signature on the parchment. The calligraphy was nothing too flourished, but yet, held a traditional impression, much like its owner. The lines, strait; the curves, sharp. Absolutely perfect, as everything he put his mind on performing.

Hinata dip her brush in the paint she prepared earlier. Firming her right arm with the support of the left, she was ready to write her name when he interrupted her.

“Hinata-sama, wait.”

She dragged her writing hand from the paper, but wasn’t fast enough to stop a drop of paint fall, wetting the table.  She frowned, looking affronted at the little stain on her father’s table. Well, she thought, at least it didn’t fall on the document, it would be a lot of trouble to get another one.

“Yes, Neji-nii-san?” she asked, not turning to face him.

“If you sign this…” he made an awkward noise with his throat, Hinata felt a faint smile curve her lips, for it was so rare to have him behaving in such manner “document. Hinata-sama”  he went back to his well controlled tone “do you know how much risk you will be putting yourself into? If you sign it, the council may ask for you to be sealed.”

His voiced sounded completely bland, but when she glanced over her shoulder Hinata could see a trace of despair in his eyes. 

Yes, it was dangerous. She knew it well. They have been rethinking their plans over and over, and every conclusion lead to what they were about to do. That was the best alternative. Yes, what they were about to do would change everything. It was scary. It could backfire horribly. But it was also their best shot, and wasn’t for the change that they were doing that, after all?

Hinata fixed her pencil one more time.

“You would never let something like happen” she answered simply.

He didn’t smile, he rarely did so, but she saw him puff his chest with pride. Subtly, of course.

But the second time he stopped her, Hinata hadn’t even distanced her hand from the ink-well.

“Hinata-sama” his tone, this time, completely different. Hinata’s stomach dropped. What if he was really giving up?

She gathered courage and turned to face him. Inebriated by the attention he won, Neji moved a step closer to her. His face frowning, his eyes - at least to Hinata - always so expressive, reflecting the tempestuous state of his heart.

“Nii-san, do you want to give up?” she  asked weakly. 

Sincerely, she didn’t have the faintest idea of what she would do if he backed down now. They battled so much to get those papers. Battled even more to build a relationship in which their actual situation was possible, and yet, the battle was far from over. With Neji, the path in front of her seemed so vast; without him all she could see was fog. She knew that, eventually, she would do it without him. She would win no matter what. But, at the same time, Hinata couldn’t see as much meaning in all that if he wasn’t beside her. That battle wasn’t hers alone after all.  

“No” he answered, his voice firm. He had already signed, haven’t he? “But you should know, Hinata-sama, if you sign these papers, there is no return. Even if you regret afterwards, it will be already done.”

I won’t let you go. He didn’t say.

She forced a smile.

“Nii-san, you should know that I never go back on my word.”

But through her words, another’s voice echoed and Neji’s face became expressionless. To anyone that would be a sign of relaxation, but Hinata knew better. She swallowed, his gaze was cold now.

“If Naruto comes back and decide he is in love with you, you won’t be able to return his feelings. Have you thought about that?”

She blinked, trying to remain calm before the violence the simple question had hit her.

“Naruto-kun has been far away for a very long time. And much more time will take, I believe, until he reaches his ends. Until then, his heart will remain busy with something that has nothing to do with me” she managed to say, trying so hard not show any sign of weakness. “And, even then, I don’t think that what you said will ever happen. Its prospects doesn’t concern me. You shouldn’t concern yourself either, nii-san.”

“Hinata…” he shut his eyes, his eyelids trembling. Frustration was pouring through all his pores and hitting her like his chakra would do to his enemies.

“Neji?”

“Forgive me, Hinata-sama, I didn’t refer to you properly.”

Despite herself and the tense situation, she giggled.

“When I sign this, odd it will be if you keep calling me that. Thinking about that, I’ll have to stop calling you ‘nii-san’” Hinata made a face. “Neji. Ne-ji. Neeejiii” she tried, dragging the vowels of his name rather comically.“Sounds awkward. You will have to be patient with me until I get used to it…”

“Hinata-sama” he interrupted her, his voice impatient “don’t change subjects. You love Uzumaki Naruto, are you certain that you want to give up on him forever?”

Hinata sighed.

“You can’t give up on something you never had. Yes, I love Naruto-kun, I fear I will love him forever, and how couldn’t I? I’m strong enough to be here because of him. Even you, I’ve just got you back to me because of his words. It isn’t because I love Naruto-kun, Neji” she punctuated his name with care “that I don’t love you too.”

They faced each other for a long moment. Hinata carrying a decided expression Neji trying madly to find doubt in her eyes, but finding none, and not being sure of how to tend to the feelings blossoming in his chest. They felt like hope and, he knew well enough, one should be careful with hope

“It isn’t the same thing” he said breaking the silence “and hardly fraternal affection can become the love necessary for a marriage.”

“I call you brother because you are my equal, not because I see you with the same eyes I look to Hanabi. I don’t call her ‘imouto’, do I?

If Hyuuga Neji were an actual human being, Hinata thought amused, he would have blushed.

“Still…”

"I’m beginning to think you really want to give up.”

“No” he said again.

She turned back to the document, brush in hand, but he stopped her again. This time, surprising her  with touch. The Hyuuga were far from being touchy-feely, they knew how a touch could be dangerous. And when Neji, who was specially scrupulous with is actions, grabbed her arm, and turned her to face him again, Hinata’s heart skipped a beat.

“Before you sign it, you have to know one more thing-”

But she was tired of his interruptions. Hinata freed herself from Neji and wrote her name next to his. Her calligraphy, one of the few things she was proud about herself, far from looking perfect. After all, without the support necessary, and the ink half-dry, she couldn’t perform a miracle. The important thing was that it was readable and indubitably hers.

“Done” she said putting the brush aside.

She turned to face him again. The sudden realization of their proximity, and the significance of what she had just done hanging heavily over her shoulders. Hinata resisted the urge to cover her face with her hands, for it, she knew well, was crimson. Oh heavens, she was really wed to Hyuuga Neji.

But he didn’t look like a happy groom at all.

“Hinata-sama…”

“You don’t have to call me that anymore.”

“You didn’t let me finish-”

She stepped further into his personal space. Her arms reached up, her hands, small and shaky, touched the face, bringing him closer. He didn’t resist, it was her, he never would. But there was terror in his eyes when she tip-toed and brought their lips together. The gesture delicate and fleeting like the beat of butterfly wings.

“I know” she said, her voice small. Her hands falling to his chest when her heels touched the floor again. She wondered if her heart was beating as fast as the mad drum she could feel through his kimono. “I wouldn’t ask you to do this if I didn’t know.”

He didn’t know what to say next, so many things going through his troubled mind in that moment. He felt like he was trapped in a fantastic reality. As if he would wake at any moment, and everything would have been no more than a dream. And then, a horrible thought crossed his mind. If Hinata knew his secret, then who else knew it too? How much have him been putting her in danger all this time he made a poor job of concealing his feelings? How much more in danger she would be now she was, in the law’s eyes, officially his? He thought about the elders, and felt ill.

“Neji?” she whispered.

He glanced down at her, looking queasy.

Hinata smiled softly.

“We will be alright.”

And, despite himself, he believed in her. He have been believing in her for a long time. And now, that they were about to change their destinies together, he believed in her even more.


End file.
